WSJ: ban Soviet symbols before May 9 will further split Ukraine

The ban of the Communist symbols together with Nazi in Ukraine not only further alienate from the capital Kiev Russia, but could further exacerbate the split in Ukrainian society, writes.

The law against Communist symbols was approved by the Parliament soon after the head Petro Poroshenko visited a mass grave of victims of the Soviet repressions on the outskirts of Kiev and said that Stalin unleashed the 2nd world war together with Hitler. Equating the role of leaders of the USSR and Nazi Germany, Poroshenko thus provoked discussions on such information, stresses the magazine.

Now Ukraine can become even more divided. The regions in the East share a positive view of the capital of Russia for the Soviet past. However, the majority of nationalist Ukrainians want to reject Soviet history, as they believe, to reject Russian influence, and strive to follow the example of former Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, reported in the publication.

Moscow condemned the message Poroshenko and expressed regret over the issue of the new law, which was published a month before the celebrations of the Soviet victory over fascist invaders. Press Secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that "